An agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada regarding proposed tariffs on Chinese products in the automotive industry looks set to force ‘major changes’ in a number of leading supply chains. The U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) is a trade deal that will enable more than USD $1.2trn in trade and as part of the deal, automobiles must have 75% of their components manufactured in Mexico, the US, or Canada to qualify for zero tariffs.

Arrayed between elegant stone buildings and run-down railway tracks in the northwest of Paris lie bustling playgrounds, plant-filled ponds and stretches of lush grass. The Clichy-Batignolles area, a former industrial wasteland, has morphed into the French capital's first "eco-neighbourhood", billed as a model of sustainable development for the rest of the city. Clarisse Genton, project coordinator for the Clichy-Batignolles district, said it aims to be "environmentally responsible" – with solar panels on homes and clean geothermal energy for heating, for example. But the eco-effort also has a social aim: to address the city's affordable housing crisis and ensure green benefits reach the poor as well as the rich.

One of the worlds largest diamond and jewellery manufacturers and retailers has embarked on a major supply chain transparency transformation, as it looks measure every step of the diamond value chain.Tiffany & Co. announced in a statement this week that, through its Diamond Source Initiative, it will trace each and every one of its individually registered diamond and make the data available to its consumers to ensure its diamonds are among “the most responsibly sourced in the world”.

EcoVadis's insight:

Modern consumers give great importance to the quality and price of the products they purchase. As consumers demand more information about the origin and authenticity of the products that they consume, forward-looking brands seek to reach new levels of transparency. Transparency is more than just being able to see further into a supply chain.

In a survey conducted by procurement consultancy Efficio and Cranfield University, 48% of procurement said fear of missing out or "FOMO," drives them to invest in new technology, the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply reported. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of survey respondents cited lack of personnel talent specialized in technology as a barrier to delivering value from tech investments. About two-thirds (66%) also cited poor support from their suppliers as a barrier to adopting emerging technology.

Most British consumers would pay more for their clothes if factory workers received fairer wages, but lack trust in the ethical pledges made by brands, a poll found on Thursday, amid growing concerns around labour abuses in the fashion industry.

EcoVadis's insight:

Worker exploitation is rampant in the global fashion industry, if brands are to eradicate labour exploitation, they must take more control of their supply chains. Industry and producers need to distribute better information to consumers about their products.

A US sportswear company has stopped using a Chinese supplier following concerns it was using forced labour in camps in Xinjiang.Badger Sportswear, a company based in North Carolina, said it would stop sourcing clothing from Hetian Taida in north-western China. The company said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday: “Out of an abundance of caution and to eliminate any concerns about our supply chain given the controversy around doing business in north-western China, we will no longer source any product from Hetian Taida or this region of China.”

EcoVadis's insight:

Agriculture, food and beverage processing, manufacturing and construction are sectors that are especially prone to violations and corruption. To illustrate the scale and reach of human rights abuses, the U.S. Department of Labor has identified 139 goods from 75 countries most likely made by forced and child labour.

U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, spiked last year after falling for the previous three, as cold weather spurred natural gas demand for heating and as the economy pushed planes and trucks to guzzle fuel, an estimate released on Tuesday showed. The Rhodium Group, an independent research group, said emissions rose 3.4 percent in 2018, the biggest jump since 2010, when the economy bounced back from the Great Recession.

EcoVadis's insight:

The environmental impact of a company is a growing concern for many customers, so keeping your carbon footprint low is important for your bottom line as well as protecting the natural world. Cutting your emissions will also usually mean a cost saving, meaning your profit margins will be higher.

The rise of partnerships - From strategic alliances to joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions, the rate of companies partnering up is at an all-time high.

Adaptability will be key to managing risk - Procurement is operating in an uncertain environment, with negative impacts from Brexit, trade relations, and economic instability.

The march of technology will continue - Innovative technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things are all investments that procurement leaders will recognise as vital to revolutionise supply chains.

There will be a need for strategy planning and assessment - Strategy planning and more regular assessments will be necessary to ensure the continued smooth running of supply chains.

Supply chain transparency will become a must-have - Companies are becoming increasingly transparent, with many pledging to ensure transparent and sustainable supply chains.

EcoVadis's insight:

No matter what industry you operate in, procurement can create immense value — in some sectors, for instance construction, as much as 80 percent of revenue goes into the supply chain. And given that sustainable procurement benefits go way beyond cost savings, organizations worldwide are embracing the principles of transparency, fairness and collaboration when developing their procurement strategies.

The UAE's Ministry of Climate Change and Environment has signed a concession agreement with the shareholders of the Emirates RDF Company to develop and operate a refuse derived fuel facility in Umm Al Quwain. The project will be developed under a public private partnership (PPP) scheme and is co-financed by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs. It will convert the waste of 550,000 residents from the two emirates into an alternative energy source. This product, named refuse derived fuel (RDF), will be used in cement factories as a fuel. It will partially replace the traditional use of gas or coal.

EcoVadis's insight:

Every area of industry will be impacted by climate change. Just as business operations are important, it is imperative to consider the impact of climate change on business operations, and potential impacts on sustainability. Business has a key role to play in addressing the challenges of climate change. It is the world’s most powerful economic force, and it is responsible for the majority of spending, wealth creation and investment.

Pernod Ricard-owned coffee liqueur brand Kahlúa has launched a new programme with an aim to source 100% of its coffee sustainably by 2022. The brand’s first sustainable development initiative will address the environmental, social and economic impact coffee farming has as it strives to “bring positive change to the lives of Mexican coffee farmers and their families”.

EcoVadis's insight:

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG 15 is committed to protecting, restoring and promoting “sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managed forests, combating desertification reversing land degradation and halting biodiversity loss” by 2030. Coffee is already the most widely traded tropical agricultural commodity, and demand for it is rising in places such as China and India that have traditionally favored tea. This rising demand could encourage expansion of coffee production into new areas, leading to more deforestation. Coffee will, in turn, suffer from the effects of climate change, as will the communities that depend on the other services that those forests provide.

Wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa is booking 14 colossal specialised cranes, has hired new staff and boosted capacity by up to 80 percent at its Spanish factories as developers strain to meet a 2020 deadline for cutting carbon emissions. More wind farms are set to be built across Spain in 2019 than in any previous year, the APPA association of renewable energy companies calculates, surpassing a pre-recession boom in 2008 and putting unprecedented pressure on the supply chain.

Anglo-Dutch energy major Shell is aiming to double its investment in clean technology to about $4bn a year, up from the $1bn to $2bn commitment the company has already made. In an interview in the UK Guardian newspaper, Shell head of gas and new energy Maarten Wetselaar declared the intention for the company to boost its low-carbon energy spending. Wetselaar said that if initial investments show a good rate of return then he could make the case to increase green spending further from 2020, the article said.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) was recently honoured with the prestigious award for ‘Significant Achievement in Environment Management’ awarded by CII-ITC Centre for Excellence for Sustainable Development [CESD] under the category ‘Environment Domain’ of CII ITC Sustainability Award 2018. The company is awarded for its multifold efforts recognizing the eco strengthens in incorporating green technologies for production, optimization of renewable energy utilization within the plant, its green product portfolio and handholding its supply chain partners in enhancing their environmental performance.

In Rotterdam, ships from around the world cruise in and out of Europe's busiest port, a bustling industrial hub that employs almost 200,000 people and produces 20 percent of the Netherlands' climate-changing gases. As Rotterdam tries to cut its emissions - in line with global goals to curb global warming - shipping emissions are a particular challenge, not least because many fall outside the targets set by the Paris Agreement to curb climate change. But the city's bustling port is starting to take them on.

EcoVadis's insight:

Climate change has been acknowledged for a few decades now. Many companies are making efforts into reducing their carbon footprints, making sure to mitigate climate change. To make sure these efforts actually help curbing climate change, a new trend is currently gaining momentum: science-based targets.

A leader in global supply chain payments and marketplaces has partnered with a technology solutions provider to better highlight and mitigate the challenges of human trafficking in the supply chain. Tradeshift has announced this week that it has partnered with FRDM (formerly Made in a Free World) to collaborate on the FRDM application, helping businesses all over the world proactively create an early detection of supply chain risk in human trafficking. Leveraging Tradeshift’s platform, FRDM brings together spend and supply chain data and analyses risks and compliance to allow users to better trace and monitor every stage of their supply chain ecosystems. FRDM combines global trade flow data with supplier and purchase level details to provide enterprises with multi-tiered visibility.

One of the world’s leading food retailers has become the first French retailer to use artificial intelligence to optimise its supply chain process. Carrefour will take advantage of SAS Viya’s multi-channel distribution and inventory optimisation to reduce waste and create value.

Nowadays, food quality is not only determined by the overall nature and safety of the end product, but also by the perceived welfare status of the animals from which the food is produced. Companies need to take animal welfare seriously and recognise their responsibility they hold for the welfare of animals in their supply chains.

Britain on Monday pledged to fight air pollution and introduce new legislation this year on air quality to save lives and billions of pounds for the economy. The government said Britain would become the first major economy to adopt air quality goals based on World Health Organization recommendations regarding people's exposure to particulate matter.

Around the world, more than 70 major cities have pledged to end their reliance on fossil fuels and stop pumping out climate-changing emissions by 2050. But Copenhagen - a city of wind turbines, bicycles and reliable public transportation - thinks it can go even further: It intends to accomplish that shift in just seven years. It will require a complete reimagining of how the Danish capital is powered and designed - and a lot of cyclists, officials admit.

A Hong Kong lawmaker vowed on Wednesday to launch a renewed push for an anti-slavery law, warning that there was "no room" for delay as thousands of victims are trapped in the city. There is little support within the Hong Kong government for a new slavery law but lawmaker Dennis Kwok said he had been lobbying international groups, including the United Nations, to put pressure on city officials.

Ansell chairman Glenn Barnes says the company is investigating allegations one of its major Malaysian suppliers is abusing worker rights, and will dump any supplier it finds is exploiting workers. The company, he said, also wants to improve conditions in its own factories in Malaysia, where there are concerns some workers — who want to work overtime to boost wages — are clocking 160 hours overtime a month.

EcoVadis's insight:

Addressing human rights issues has become more important for business across the world and businesses are increasingly linking human rights issues to their supply chains. Companies therefore often need to prioritize their business relationships for which it is most critical to conduct human rights due diligence. However, as a first step, they need to know who is in their supply chains.

As many as 1,200 Canadian companies could be importing products made by children and forced labourers. A proposed federal bill is hoping to crack down on Canadian companies that import products tainted by child and forced labour. The Modern Slavery Bill, tabled in the House of Commons Thursday by Liberal MP John McKay, would require companies to publicly release a report every year, detailing what they've done to ensure their supply chains are transparent and free of goods and materials fully or partially produced by children and forced labourers.

EcoVadis's insight:

Child labour can be hard to see. Multinational enterprises may be linked to it in international supply chains directly– through their own facilities, suppliers or subcontractors – or simply by having operations in areas where child labour is common. Industries such as textiles, food and agriculture, electronics, sports, construction, hospitality and housekeeping have been mostly connected to modern slavery. But there are steps that companies can take to help eradicate human rights violations.

Developing countries, with China at the forefront of the group, are leading in global investment in renewable power generation, according to a new report on global trends in renewable energy investment released Thursday.

EcoVadis's insight:

Energy remains a major contributor to global warming, accounting for 60 percent of GHG emissions, Sustainable Development Goal 7 proposes to resolve this issue by promoting the use of renewable energy while decreasing the use of conventional energy. Before effectively engaging suppliers, companies should internally integrate the criteria of energy consumption and GHG emissions into their procurement decisions.

Italy will offer subsidies of up to 6,000 euros (£5,391.3) to buyers of new low emission vehicles while slapping taxes on the purchase of larger petrol and diesel cars, according to measures approved in parliament. The measures, contained in Italy’s 2019 budget passed by the upper house on Sunday, made changes to rules proposed by Rome earlier this month which drew criticism from the car industry.

Cement is the second most-consumed resource in the world, with more than 4 billion tons of the material produced globally every year. As a result, the industry generates approximately 8 percent of global CO2 emissions, not far behind the agriculture industry, which accounts for 12 percent. Ranked with CO2 emissions from individual countries, the cement industry would be the third-highest emitter after China and the United States.

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